Pack Of Stray Dogs

[lizbud]

This happened at the Indianapolis Zoo Sunday morning.:(

I am very sorry for the birds killed by these dogs, but portraying
them as wild killers who killed for food doesn't do anybody any
good. This writer know nothing about dogs or pack dynamics.
The dogs attacked and killed the birds, they didn't eat them.

The story seems to just scare people into thinking stray dogs
are all dangerous, wild, blood thirsty killers. And the" Pit Bull "
they showed on tv last night was not a" Pit" at all. It
looked like a Setter mix. Just more rhetoric to enflame people's passions about "killer" breeds. It all makes me sick.:(

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050718/NEWS01/507180345

[DJFyrewolf36]

Somehow, I don't think these dogs were killing for food. I think its horrible that they seem to portray ALL dogs as blood hungry beasts, especially if they're in a pack. :(. I'd be more concerned with finding out what motivated these dogs to attack the birds (and why would they attack Emus, those things are formidable!).

[Pit Chick]

What they need to focus on is finding the owners of these dogs. Just because they were out roaming and killing zoo birds doesn't mean they are wild dogs hunting for food. They were doing what domestic dogs do with a pack mentality. These are just pets with irresponsible owners, not wild animals. They shouldn't have to die because they killed another animal, they're taking it way too personally.

[lizbud]

Originally posted by Pit Chick
Just because they were out roaming and killing zoo birds doesn't mean they are wild dogs hunting for food. They were doing what domestic dogs do with a pack mentality. These are just pets with irresponsible owners, not wild animals. They shouldn't have to die because they killed another animal, they're taking it way too personally.



Later news says the dogs were chasing & killing raccoons near
the Zoo property & they think the dogs had chased one into
the Zoo grounds where they found the birds.

What I hate is how they demonize the dogs in the news stories
and skip over the irresponsible former dog owners.

[lizbud]

The attached video link shows the one dog captured which
they label as a Pit Bull. Does this look like one to you?


http://www.theindychannel.com/news/4738983/detail.html

[finn's mom]

I wonder what made the dogs kill all those animals. It's too bad that they could capture the dogs. It doesn't sound like they had owners at all, but, maybe they could have been adopted out. I don't know anything about pack dynamics, but, it's odd to me that they would just kill like that if they weren't killing for food. I don't know, what a sad situation, though. That dog in the video looks rough. He doesn't look like a pit bull in the video, but, it also doesn't seem like they're just using the breed to make it sound worse, though....I mean, I would think if they were going to go that route, they wouldn't have said labrador mixes and a terrier mix were killed....I don't know. Sad. :(

[K9soul]

Well the dog did not appear to be a pit bull to me at all, he looked shaggy and like a mix of some sort to me, but I couldn't tell if he perhaps had pit in him or not. He looked sad to me though... I wonder if he is grieving his pack mates :(.

As far as stray/abandoned dogs killing in packs, it's a common occurrence. I read and researched about it some years ago and basically the explanation is, they have the hunting instincts of the wolf pack but the domestication and play behavior of a dog. They will kill out of an instinctive hunting drive but have lost the instinct through domestication of only killing what is needed to survive. It is the same with breeding, a wolf pack only has the alpha pair breed and only one litter a year, but a dog, while he still has the instinct to reproduce does not have the instinct that tells him that he cannot provide for continual litters, he will breed and mate indiscriminately if provided the opportunity, so too with the killing/hunting in a pack with strong prey drives.

I probably didn't explain that all that well but hopefully it's understandable. I feel sad that they resorted to shooting the dogs, but I guess if they showed aggression when being taken they felt they had no choice.

[finn's mom]

That makes sense, that's kinda what I was thinking. It is sad that they had to kill them, but, who knows the situation? :( It may have ended up being the best thing for them. I don't know, it's just sad to see this kind of thing happening. They really need to step up Animal Control services more than anything, get those kinds of animals off the street completely. Especially a pack like that, not much good can come of a stray pack of dogs. At least get them off the streets.

[Pit Chick]

The dog they showed looked like a BC mix to me. These dogs were probably a pack that gather at night when their stupid owners let them out or they escape the backyard. I've seen the same thing in my own neighborhood. A pack of dogs that all obviously belonged to someone, one being my neighbor, were running the streets and the biggest dog had a dead cat in it's mouth. I called animal control, but of course, that never does any good.

[senorita02]

Whats worse than the attacks, is that the zoo clipped the birds wings !! Now thats cruel, why should the birds not be allowed to fly?? Maybe if they could they could have flown away.

[finn's mom]

Originally posted by senorita02
Whats worse than the attacks, is that the zoo clipped the birds wings !! Now thats cruel, why should the birds not be allowed to fly?? Maybe if they could they could have flown away.

Kinda like most pet birds, they would fly away if they weren't clipped. Unless they put a cover on the exhibit. I've seen that before, and, then, the birds could fly.